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Nairobi - Kenyan troops said on Friday they had freed two aid workers working with the charities Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and CARE who were kidnapped by Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab rebels in 2011.

A defence ministry statement identified the two as Daniel Njuguna Wanyoike of MSF and James Kiarie Gichuhi of CARE International, who were snatched while working along the Kenya-Somalia border. Officials said both are Kenyan nationals.

The statement said they were rescued by Kenyan troops within Amisom, the African Union force battling the Shebab in support of Somalia's internationally backed government.

No further details on the operation were given, but Kenyan troops are active in southern Somalia.

A CARE official confirmed Gichuhi was a driver and Kenyan national working with a water and sanitation team in the Hagadera camp near Dadaab in northern Kenya, which is currently home to 105 000 Somali refugees.

CARE said he was kidnapped in September 2011, and that it was awaiting confirmation from the Kenyan authorities of his release. There was no immediate comment from MSF.

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